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Vespa driver, on a beautifully restored machine, Ebisu
I used to own a Vespa while living in London, and while it wasn’t as beautiful as this one, it was still great and I was part of the family. I often wish I still had it, I had to leave it behind when moving to Japan. But transport in London was terrible and expensive, and the scooter was the perfect solution. In Tokyo it just seems unnecessary. You can get a modern 200cc PX for around Â¥200.000, which is a very good price. Of course you cannot compare it to the prices of Japanese scooters.
I am torn whether this one looks better in colour or black & white. But it is very hard to judge something like this while seeing the two options next to each other.
Update: I have tweaked the colour cast and general saturation a little bit.
well, I’m often against b/w versions of color, for no good reason except some ingrained (pun there?) idea of what’s acceptable in terms of digital manipulation. But in truth I don’t think that unless it’s my own work, I’m ever able to notice that something has been de-saturated. Anway, this blah blah is to say that I prefer the b/w version, perhaps despite myself. I think in b/w the chrome of the bike is just much shinier and stands out more. in color, that big part under the seat tends to blend in with the wet street. Also, the color one just has too much of a magenta cast for me (correctable in PS perhaps), although there is a nice color symmetry happening with the chrome, seat cover, and his helmet (also nice shape symmetry too).
Too bad about the Vuitton bag (although again, in b/w this is muted and not so offensive :).
all in all, a nice shot, and a good balance between retro and now.
btw, if I right-click/open in new window your “black & white” linked text (as opposed to clicking it straight and getting the pop-up, I actually get the color picture. check your html.
I prefer the black/white photo. Superb vespa.
Black and white – more moody
okay, perhaps it’s the tweaks you did but I’m now back in the color camp. Looking again at the b/w it just seems a tad dark and contrasty. There’s also just something about how the color brings out the little bits of color re: the bike, the seat coverings, his helmet, those little doodads hanging from the handlebars, etc. I think Gary’s right that the b/w is more moody, but i’m not sure that’s what you want out of this image. The way I look at it, the vespa guy isn’t threatening, but rather has a bit of a threatened look to him. Or perhaps self-conscious look is more accurate. The kind of look that says, “He’s taking a picture of me because he thinks my poodle seat covers are silly, but I know I’m cool. I’m cool, right?” In a way, the woman far right is kind of his protector, “hey leave him alone, he’s cool”. The young woman in the orange/red has her arm out towards the woman, as if to say “Now now Mom, don’t get worked up about it. It’s just another gaijin taking a picture.”
I go with B/W. Being American we have no love loss with scooters so I do not feel the nostalgia. But the lack of color and style of the bike leaves me with more of a guess as to what time in history the photos was taken, it also takes focus off the woman in the middle with the otherwise red shirt. The rare scooter then stands out as the focus of the photo.
i wander haw i found your site?
i like the face of the man on the motobike
nice shot
see Ya from Poland